


Fresh Start

by PhylaLayla



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Claire plays matchmaker, Drunken Shenanigans, Happy Ending, M/M, New Years, Piersy is a little jealous, a little drama, but also really in love, the BSAA is celebrating it like a family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-11-26 21:50:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20937302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhylaLayla/pseuds/PhylaLayla
Summary: It's the time of the year where everything starts over again. Just the same but somehow different. Piers is tired of the situation he finds himself in and wants to do something to change it. What better way to start the new year than telling your crush how you feel...?





	1. 1:00pm until 4:00pm

**Author's Note:**

> You don't know the willpower I had to bring up to not call this whole thing 'The Final Countdown', you're welcome...
> 
> But on a serious note, I actually managed to come up with something again rather fast after the lifelong journey that was 'Vagabond'. x'D This one is by far not gonna be as long, just something to fresh my mind up. Probably gonna be a three-shot.

_31th of December 2009_

„10.“

„9.“

„8.“

„7.“

„6.“

„5.“

„4-…“

„Moira, please! It´s not even close to midnight!“, the red-haired friend of said girl whined. There was at least another 10 hours to go but somehow Moira seemed more pumped this year than she had ever seen her before. Maybe that was just a side effect of being older now and being allowed to drink…

“I know, Claire! I just thought maybe I should get us a little into the mood.” Because to be honest, Claire and especially her brother, Chris, didn’t yet look like they were ready for the new year at all.

Sure, Chris had always that slightly gloomy cloud over his head, Barry said it lingered ever since Africa. Everyone could kinda notice it even if Chris tried hard to hide it. And even his new promising team didn’t lift his spirit. He still sometimes seemed to have trouble acting like their Captain, even after months. Barry said, he would fall into the role sooner or later, everybody eventually did. But Chris took his sweet time. And not even wonder boy could really help…

Her father had suggested celebrating New Year's together this time, all of them. But understandably, no one wanted to host the event, to which seemingly the entire BSAA had been invited. And so they had ended up celebrating it on the HQ base itself. It had enough space, possibilities to use the cafeteria and all the other entertainment rooms as they wanted. No one would complain about too much noise. And the soldier boys could drop right into their dorm beds should they get too drunk. 

Moira looked up from their table in the corner of the cafeteria, into the middle of the big room. A lot of other people already had their fun. She could see her parents dancing to some non-existent music somewhere in the distance. Blargh. But at least the babysitting of her younger sister wasn’t one of her problems tonight, she was with a friend from school.

She could see Claire's brother with his blonde friend, Jill. They were at the vending machine, getting some plastic bottles of water. Didn’t they plan on drinking tonight? Hmm, maybe in preparation to counter the hangover! 

Jill Valentine looked still sick. It had been 9 months now since she came back home with Chris. Moira hadn’t heard in detail what happened but it must have been bad. She had been in quarantine and just came out a little while ago. Now she only did office work anymore. Chris was equally as weird since their return. Sure, she had never seen him as much as Claire but they still kinda all grew up together. 

Chris didn’t look people in the eye anymore when he was talking to them. In general, he was talking less, just when it had to be. Which of course, clashed with his new position of a Captain. He tried to stay detached. Tried to stay invincible, maybe even true to the legendary status he received. 

Moira thought it was bullcrap. Even though sometimes she had the feeling, it was the exact same thing she used to do to her father...

Wonderboy came in then.

Moira´s mouth went dry and her eyes wide. He was with some other soldiers that cheered and immediately cracked open some beer. Barry wouldn’t like it, it was all reserved for later! But Moira couldn’t care less. Not when _his_ walk was perfect, his smile was perfect, his teeth and hair were perfect--!

“Hey…”, was whispered close to her ear and she whipped around to Claire that couldn’t hold her grin. “Whatcha looking at there? Is it…Piers?”, she giggled. Shit…

It wasn’t as if Claire didn’t know, she had seen her friend look at Piers more often like this, whenever she had the chance. That was probably not as often as she would have liked. But Claire found it cute. Just too bad that Claire was almost 100 percent sure that she would have bad luck with that guy… 

“Is that his name? I couldn’t care less…”, the younger one huffed, trying way too hard to seem unimpressed. Young people and their crushes, Claire rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say…”, she eventually just sighed and shifted her attention away again. Her eyes found her brother. He still hadn't moved away with Jill from the wall, their backs pressed into it, their eyes surveilling the room as if they were expecting an outbreak, always on guard. What had happened to them…? 

Claire didn’t know. And as selfish that sounded, sometimes she didn’t even want to know. Her brother was so strong, he always had been. It was breaking her heart to see him like this every time she visited or said hello. There had been a time Claire had been awfully optimistic about his mental state. Before Africa. Before Jill had vanished. Chris had been fine. Still tainted by betrayal and friends deaths but optimistic. It was a time she had even thought, one day Chris Redfield might step away from this all. Find a family maybe, find some happiness, as their parents had always wanted it from them. 

But time moved on merciless and eventually, that chance ticked away. For both of them. 

Her blue eyes found Piers, who was on his way to a separate table with his few friends. If you observed him good enough, one could see his pretty eyes always darting away to one corner of the room. Claire could tell immediately where they came to lie, without really needing to glance to Chris again. 

Sometimes life was cruel. And sometimes it could just come up with love for you, when you yourself are already way too cold to accept it. 

She wondered, if Piers might have come into her brother´s life sooner, would the two of them might have had a chance? Could have a relationship blossomed? And if it did, could that maybe have helped her brother through all his hardships?

It wouldn’t have been Piers' fault if not, his love was pure, Claire knew that. She knew it ever since he had admitted it to her through E-mail. There had always been a vibe about him, ever since she first met him. And she was curious by nature, she couldn’t help poking. Eventually, she had him this far and the rookie had told her about his deepest secret: his utter and complete love for Chris. 

He must have felt stupid, telling her as his sister. But maybe it had been good, getting it off his soul. And she was totally on his side. More than once did Claire have one of these thoughts. These thoughts that you had at night in bed when you couldn’t sleep. Maybe she should set both of them up. But this would prove as difficult. And maybe it would make her brother awkward if it should go wrong. But what was a bit of awkwardness compared to love, right?

Moira must have noticed her staring because she cleared her throat. “Listen… don’t get any funny ideas staring at him like that, okay?”, she asked with a quivering voice which only caused Claire to laugh. If she only knew… “Don’t worry about that, kiddo…” Right, she wasn’t the one she had to worry about at all…

Claire got up. 

“Where are you going?” “Like I said, I'm not going to hit on him! But I am still allowed to talk to him, right?”, she smirked and left her friend without another word, making her way over to the person in question. 

The soldiers stopped with her hollering and yelling the moment they saw her approaching. Their big eyes staring her all over. Claire was by now used to Chris' men being so incredibly blunt with women. Still kinda irritated her though. “Hey boys!”, she exclaimed and now even Piers turned around to her, not having seen her before. His lips stretched into a warm smile and Claire had to admit, the kid was handsome. Totally jaw-dropping handsome. If she would have been 15 years younger… 

Damn, if already she felt like this, how would it theoretically be for Chris?!

“Hello, Claire.” They were over the point of him calling her ‘Ms. Redfield’. Which she was really happy about, no need to make her feel even older!

Now that all these eyes were suddenly on her, Claire realized she didn’t even think about what to say. Why did she even come here in the first place?! Because typical Redfield thing, first act then think! Ugh…

“So, Piers… “, she started slowly, making this up as she went on. But there was always this one thing that never left her head. She had the desire to talk with him about it, they had never talked about it in person before! Only per E-mail!

“There is a teeny weenie thing that I would like to talk with you about? I thought… maybe we could it in private?” 

That was obviously the wrong thing to say. Very wrong! All the other men on the table started whistling and cheering, showing that even at 1 pm, they were far from sober already. Sometimes even military men were like children. 

It was obvious how embarrassing this was for Piers, the awkwardness in his eyes all there as they did this right in front of the Captain's sister. “Quiet!”, he scolded them and they listened. At least that.

Next, he stood up and nodded towards her. Neither of them needed to say another word as they left the room, not only the eyes of the men following them but also the ones of a deeply frowning Captain who had watched all of this intently.

……………………

“Please, you have to excuse their bad behavior!”, Piers almost pleaded. He was kinda cute when he was so worried about his men's behavior. Chris should have seen him this way. “On the field, they are all very professional. But I guess they just wanna have fun in their free time with a job like this.”

Claire giggled a little as she sucked on the straw in the cola can she held in her hands. They had made a little detour, getting a bit to drink and some snacks before wandering the halls. With the new year still being a few hours away, Claire was fine with any way to pass the time. 

“Oh yeah? And how comes that you don’t?”

Piers looked at her confused, the gears in his head turning. There were moments you could see crystal clear how he was thinking about what to say next. Always planned and calculated. “I don’t seem to follow you… Maybe different people just have different ideas of fun…”, he mumbled but then kept talking louder before Claire had much of a chance to mock him any further. 

“…Maybe we should just get to it and talk about what you wanted to ask me?”

Oh, that was fine with her. Claire kept grinning and took another long sip, the tension laying in the air so thick that you could feel it. The pair walked around another corner and the redhead checked for people but they were all alone. 

“Fine. Let's talk about my brother.”

Piers' face became pale. “What?” It was hilarious to Claire, how cute. Like mentioned before, they had never talked about it in person before. But just knowing how much Piers adored her brother, she wanted to hear it. Just for a small moment living in a world where people had the chance to be happy. Where this gorgeous boy loved her brother and, in his young mind, could actually imagine winning his heart and living with him happily. Like in one of those fairytales she used to adore as a child. 

When the paleness went away, his face became red like a tomato. Had she acted this way with her last crush? She imagined yes. Just that her last crush blinded her judgment and almost got her and Moira killed. 

“Claire… I-I think I know what you mean, okay…? But please… does this have to be now…?” Shit, he looked like a puppy that got kicked in the face. But this was also way too good to stop. 

“Sure. It’s the last day of the old year. You could start with your New Year's resolutions early!”

“New Year's resolutions?! I don’t have such a thing!”

“Yeah, right. Don’t tell me that, if you would have some, hitting up my brother would be right in the first place!” Piers went to cover her mouth in a panic but she dodged. No matter how good wonderboy was, she had a few years on him. Also, she was raised by Chris, which she was sure was harder than just being trained by him. 

“Come on, pooch. No one is here. Just admit it, like you did before. Tell me that you have a crush on my brother and we could both try to work on it!” Really, she was the good guy here. But Piers didn’t seem so thrilled about her help, still.

“Thanks. But no thanks. Sure, maybe it would be cool dating your brother.” There, he had admitted it. “But I´m never going to and that may be good so. Because if that fucks up our entire group dynamics, it's gonna be my fault!”

Claire could only raise an eyebrow at that. “I actually heard that Alpha isn’t doing so well lately. Chris is pretty distant, huh?”

“Maybe. But we can respect that, as long as he still tries his best keeping us safe on the field.” Always so professional. Even when talking about his crush. Claire's patience was slowly coming to an end, not that she ever had much of that. 

“I'm sorry but he's _my_ brother and I think I might know him a bit better than all of you combined. Truth is, Chris is suffering. He has been for a little while now. “ Piers didn’t say anything, the corner of his lips twitched without him wanting to as if hearing this physically hurt him. “And I know it's not your job to fix him. Just like it is not mine. But I want you to know that I think you would have the potential. Chris needs someone, after all this betrayal and bullshit, that sticks with him, is loyal to the end. Which you are obviously. And the fact that you… that you love him! It's just like it's meant to be. You. Now.”

Never before did Claire put so much passion into something she said. Obviously, she couldn’t force him. And she didn’t mean to in the slightest! It was his decision. She just hoped that she could maybe make it a bit clearer to him that… that if it would work out, this could be perfect. 

Piers wanted Chris. Claire could feel how desperately he wanted him. If only he could jump his shadow and lay down this stupid view of ‘destroying’ something. When maybe taking the risk was worth it. To may build something stronger. 

He could go ahead and at least try to make Chris understand what he was feeling. Her older brother could be harsh sometimes but never would he be rude to someone or make fun of them, for the way they truly felt inside. And especially when they had the courage to talk about it. Chris wasn’t that kind of guy. So Claire knew, even if Chris would reject him… it would be the softest and most dearest rejection in history. Of course, it could potentially still hurt Piers like a bitch. So… his decision. 

“I… I don’t know how he would react, of course! But… I have the feeling Chris has been ready for someone for a while now. He tries to hide it, push people away because he is scared. But truth be told, when I visit him, he craves for hugs. He craves to watch silly cute Disney movies until late at night on the couch. He craves for someone telling him he did a good job. Piers… he can't shoulder all of this alone anymore…”, she ended. Maybe it was even selfish of her. All she thought about was healing her brother. But Piers… If he loved her brother… 

The sniper continued to look at her for a long time, almost emotionless. Claire lost hope with every passing second-. 

“I…I would be lying if I said that I never imagined… that.”, he mumbled eventually and Claire perked her ears. Piers' eyes avoided hers and found the ground. If only she knew all the things he had been imagining. “Of course I wanna… date him, deep inside. And… I’m sure the Team wouldn’t mind, I think… But let's be honest, even if the small chance comes true and he might like me back…”, he looked her straight in the eyes again. “Do you think he would be ready and even consider me as a real honest partner?”

That was a good question indeed. But Claire only smirked back coldly. “Mh… Oh, kid. Once you're dealing with bioterror as long as we did… you painfully have to understand, that you might never get the chance to find out anymore if you wait too long…”

Her words took the air out of his lungs. 

.........................

4 pm and Piers Nivans was on a mission. Like any good sniper, he made throughout sure to not be seen by anyone as he sneaked around every corner, always checking twice or three times.

He knew he didn’t have to be as paranoid as he was right now. He was at base. At a party, he was officially invited to. Looking for that cute ass that belonged to his crush, his superior and Captain of a special military unit that fought monsters and mutations. Everything normal here. 

Still, he would like to see him first before getting seen…

Claire had fueled his nightmare material with what she had said. Piers used to have dark thoughts like this sometimes. He figured that it came with the job, constantly being in danger of losing your own life. Weirdly enough, that wouldn’t scare him as much even. Not as much as imagining someone else not making it. Someone tall and well build, handsome face. That thought almost killed Piers. But there was only one single thing worse than that in the universe. And Piers realized it was the exact same thing, except… Chris never knowing how he had truly felt. 

If ever that worst case came true and Piers would lose Chris forever, it would break him of course. But he would never forgive himself to maybe let the chance slip by of telling Chris, just letting him know how precious all of this had been, how important to him. How his stomach was tingling every time he passed him by. 

Chris deserved to know. Or Piers deserved the peace of knowing that Chris knew. No matter what it might mean for their relationship after. 

So now he was on this mission. It was important. It had to happen today. He needed to find Chris and bring him to a private place. Piers' skin began to tingle just thinking about that, calm yourself! Then he needed Chris to understand that he loved him. Like strong. Like head over heels kind of love. Love love. 

Shit, he was already making this mushy in his head. What a joy this would be…

Piers made his way back to the cafeteria which seemed logical to him with Chris being there last. When he entered, he saw Claire already back on her table with Moira. Said girl looked at him and blushed, waving. She was cute. But lacked a couple of pounds of muscles and different gender, for his taste. The poor girl had no chance with him… 

He averted his eyes and glanced over to the wall he had last seen him. Chris was not there. Jill was not there. Fuck. Alright.

So his only chance was to look for him, good. Probably asking someone, otherwise, this might take longer than he liked. And his plan was doing this before midnight! Wouldn’t that be romantic to start the new year together…? 

Claire didn’t look like she knew where he was, probably left before she came back into the room. The first destination was the table with his boys but he gave up fast, that all of them were way too tipsy by now to have noticed anything. So he left them behind rather quickly, going for Barry. Said advisor had, like he said himself, been way too busy dancing with his pretty wife to know anything. 

With a sigh, Piers wandered over to Rebecca Chambers. She sat a little further away with another woman, dark skin, dark hair. Piers thought he had heard her name before, he thought she had been Chris' partner in the Africa mission. Sheva? 

He smiled politely as he reached them. “Hello, Ms. Chambers!” He knew Rebbaca for a while now, was first introduced to her at a mission when he had been freshly a rookie. Somewhere in Australia at a school. Honestly, with so much happening every day in your job, old missions began blending together rather quickly. And even though knowing her so long, he somehow never really passed that border of saying just her last name. “Oh hello, Piers!”

“I hate to disturb you but may I ask if you have seen the Captain by any chance?”

“Chris? Oh, ah…”, she thought for a little while. “I saw him on the corridors with Jill not too long ago. Admittedly, both looked kinda gloomy so I asked where they were headed. Apparently ‘outside’, which is just another word for going for a smoke, I guess.”

Smoking… Piers nodded fast and already turned around, he didn't have much time to lose. “Alright, thanks!” 

He didn't like to admit it and he was even a little embarrassed by it but… Piers was jealous of Jill. He knew he probably didn’t need to. Captain and Jill knew each other for years and had not been in a romantical relationship. And after Africa, they needed each other, no wonder they hung around each other that much. But… Ms. Valentine was a stunning and bright woman. If Piers would be straight, he probably would lust after her just as hard as all the other soldiers. And maybe even Captain felt that way…

Piers stook his head fast and kept going. 

He headed for the main entrance, thinking that was his best bet. But arriving there, he had to notice that neither of the two founders were present here. Weird. How hard could it be to find the Captian? The sniper went through some other possibilities in his head. And once again his imagination got a little more colorful than he would have liked. What if the Captain and Valentine were at one of the back entrances, using the peace and quiet to… make out a little. A cold shudder went down Piers' back. No! Never… Captain and Jill,… they didn’t have anything.

Still, Piers found his feet carrying him back into the building, striding through the halls with the most determined expression, so that no one that saw him even dared to talk to him. Just a few moments, that was all that it took him before Piers was on the other side of the building and jumped down the staircase. 

He wasn’t even down all the way when he heard some noises. They were weird, but definitely coming from a human. Somehow… all thrown together. Something that could resemble a sob, or even a moan. 

Piers frowned and his sniper instincts told him to think about every step now. He listened some more but he couldn’t make anything out that made sense, not for the hell of it. So he took a little step down the stairs, making sure to not cause any sounds that this empty staircase would only double. 

He was down the first set of stairs and peeked around the corner. 

Piers never felt his heart sink as much as at this moment, and that meant something in the BSAA. Down there, at the end of the next set of stairs, set Captain on the ground with his back leaned against the wall. Ms. Valentine sat on his lap. Both of them were in a deep embrace, bodies pressed flush together. 

From this distance Piers couldn’t see if they were kissing. For whatever reason, Ms. Valentine's hair wasn’t in a ponytail anymore but flying open and it covered most of their faces.

Smoking, his ass. So there these sounds… kissing sounds?

Piers stood there for a long while, knuckles turning white from the iron grip he had on the corner he looked around. But neither of them were moving, they just sat there, doing whatever it was they were doing. And Piers didn’t know what to feel. 

Maybe it would have been easier knowing what was going on in the first place. But then again, if they really were kissing, what right did he have to feel betrayed? Chris didn’t even know it yet, so… He couldn’t blame him. But there was still a little part of him that did. 

After all, Piers had been trying to hint at it for months. Was Chris dense enough to never have picked up on one? How he looked at him. How he had offered him to sleep at his place once after they were totally hammered after a bar visit. How he tried to please him so much. How he always got him the best presents for Christmas and birthdays. Piers growled under his breath. 

He deserved this. He deserved to be in Jill's place right now, no matter how much longer they knew each other. Or he deserved at least the chance. But now he didn’t even feel like telling Chris anymore. There was no real point to it. 

The sniper scoffed through his noise and turned around to leave. But then he tripped, something that never would have happened in his usual collected state of mind. He lost his footing and slipped off the first stair which unstoppably led to him crashing down the others following, until he came at a halt at the end of it. Like fate wanted it, right next to Chris and Jill. Which didn’t even get up, can you believe it?! Just raised their heads to look at him like the biggest idiots. Fuck this. 

“Oww…” Piers remembered falling down a long set of stairs as a kid. It had hurt. But this was seriously worse and his pain battled with the desire to just get away fast. The sniper held his head but at the same time, already fought to get up. He couldn’t stay here any longer. 

“Piers?”, Jill asked now and he screamed at her in his head. ‘No, it's Santa Claus.’ This humiliation was just too bad for him and he didn’t answer. When he finally stood, he couldn’t help but look at them again. And he had to witness how Valentine finally got up, her long legs stretching perfectly as she pushed herself from Chris' lap, then standing over him, their eyes sticking to each other. Jill's perfect and graceful way of moving made it look like something out of an adult's movie. 

After what felt like an eternity, she turned to him and, with the reflexes of a wildcat, grabbed his sleeve when he was just about to run away. “Did you hurt yourself?” 

The worst part about this all was, that Piers wanted a person to blame it all on. It was easier to do this than giving yourself the blame of having waited so long to tell him. And Jil seemed the perfect person for it. But Ms. Valentine had always been so nice to him. She was so compassionate and nice, cute too in a way. Piers knew how much she went through and all, which made it almost impossible to hate her. 

He pulled on his sleeve but she didn’t budge. “No, I don’t think so, thanks for asking. I should go now, sorry for bothering you!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Actually, I should thank you. Chris had a little breakdown but I think that was distraction enough!”, she giggled in her pretty voice and looked at the Captain who still sat there at the ground, his expression unreadable but his eyes a little uncharacteristically red. He nodded faintly like a shy kid, Piers swore he had never seen him this way before. If he wouldn’t have felt so sorry, he might have selfishly described it as ‘adorable’. If Captain was even capable of being just that. 

Confused, Piers shifted his eyes back to Jill's ocean blue ones. Wait, how much did he misinterpret here? He knew Chris and Jill were friends ever since they were very young but this way of consoling had still looked very intimate. 

“And I know you just said you're feeling fine but maybe you should still go to the nurse. A hit on the head is never a harmless thing.”, she purred. He didn’t want to go, oh hell no. But her eyes... She almost got that puppy eyes thing better down than him! So his resistance died down in mere seconds and Piers nodded just as weakly as Chris had done before. “M-Maybe…” Also, it could be another great way to get away from this incredibly awkward situation and these two. 

“Good! I think Chris could maybe go back to his sister and then I could accompany you to the nurse!”, the blonde woman chirped and Piers bit his lip. Fuck. 


	2. 4:00pm until 10:00pm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This hadn't been at all what Piers wanted. But sometimes you just can't help yourself when it hits you... And admitting that, he gave into his demons just to feel the consequences just seconds later.
> 
> *mature warning*

Jill didn’t take any bullshit. He could complain how he wanted but Jill was seeing her mission through. First, the three went back to the big cafeteria and left Chris with his sister and Moira (which had looked so weird at him again). Chris had by now fully called down again. It seemed just as fast as these episodes could come, they could vanish again.

And then Jill had grabbed his arm again, giving him no chance of escape and had dragged him back into the hallways. And once they were there, it all happened pretty fast as she pressed him against the nearest wall. How much strength this woman possessed was beyond Piers. He could have probably broken free if he tried hard enough but he didn’t. Not when she looked at him with the biggest frown.

What now? Would she scold him now for interrupting her and her boyfriend? But it was nothing of the sorts. Instead, it was something that Piers wasn’t too sure if it was for the better or worse.

“When are you planning on telling him?”, she almost roared into his face. His brain wasn’t able to comprehend what she was saying at that very moment. This all seemed so surreal to him. “I… what…?”

“Your love for Chris!”, she kept going, in a volume that showed she wasn’t afraid in the slightest letting the whole base know. Piers understood now and became red. Very red. How did she know? Why did she know?! Claire?!

“My… what, ma’am? I don’t think I understand…”

“Do you think you can play dumb with me?” Oh hell no, Jill could be scary when she was like that.

“No, ma’am! I would never, ma’am!”

She scoffed and took a few visible breaths, before continuing a lot slower. “Just tell me the problem. Is it fraternization, is that it?”, she kept poking and Piers knew now, he would never get her off his tail. She knew and now she felt like this was her mission. And she finished every mission.

“…No, not exactly…” At least he hadn’t thought of this problem before.

“Then what is it? Listen, I know this is probably scary for you and all, but you should do what I think you wanna do anyway, alright? I… Ever since Africa, Chris is like a time bomb, always ready to set off again. And it isn’t getting better. I know that this might not be the solution to all of his problems but I think Claire is right. You should try.” So they did talk to each other! Piers snorted. Everyone was so worried about Chris. But what about him? Telling someone how you felt about them wasn’t easy.

“Don’t worry, I had that conversation with her before, I know what she said. I was actually on my way to him earlier and I would have done it, if I wouldn't have seen you being so all over each other!”

“Oh, so this is what this was about…”, she hummed. “We were outside because Chris said he needed a smoke. Which he did. Once we came both inside again, Chris got a little episode. He began talking about… a few people at S.T.A.R.S. It got pretty bad and he once told me that warm hugs help him a lot when that happens. So I did that. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Piers hesitated but he found no flaw in her logic. Otherwise, why would she ask him to go after Chris now?

“I see… Well, are you gonna leave me alone when I tell you that I'm still ready to talk to him?”

“Sure. But first, we´re gonna take care of your head.”

...........................

It was 6 pm when Piers finally came back from the nurse and everyone finally left him alone for now. It felt like it was never coming to an end.

Now Piers felt like he was completely at the start again, thinking over his plans, sitting here in the cafeteria, glancing over to Chris who sat still with Claire and Moira, Jill now as well. All three women were glancing at him now every once in a while. Two for a completely different reason than the third. Jill and Claire were pushing him with their eyes to do something. And he was planning about it, promise!

Here and there he flipped a potato chip in his mouth, mumbling under his breath that his teammates didn’t even notice anymore, that’s how far gone they were.

“You know, guys. Bein' here with you is great and all. But damn, am I gonna miss the New Year's fuck I could have with my girl later…”

Piers almost spit out the sip of cola he just took.

Sometimes these men were talking like pigs. And now that one had started they all tuned in. Was he not allowed a little peace of mind?!

“Oh hell yeah! My girl is waiting for me too! I've had her for like two months…I think. To be honest, her character is shit, I don’t think I'm gonna stay long but I sure as hell gonna try to get some more of that before I bail!” Piers closed his eyes slowly so they couldn’t see him rolling them.

Obviously, this job could leave a lot of men feeling as if they needed something in their life. Something like love. But sometimes their job also left them anxious so there was no real possibility for anything serious to blossom. But Piers guessed that sex did the trick for most of them.

Piers, of course, wanted something more from life. Not that sex wasn’t good… It was! From what he remembered. He.. didn’t have many encounters in some time, truth be told. But how should he say this, with his ‘preferences’ it was rather hard to find a partner, and that even with his job. And sometimes you did begin to like someone but honestly, how high were the chances of them liking you back if everything in a soldier's job was so drilled with male pride and being, well… straight.

So here he was, a healthy 26 year-old man. But instead of most people that fitted that description, his last sexual encounter must have been months ago and now he was desperately running on hormones that wanted out, with that hot piece of hunk called Chris Redfield constantly running in front of his face, but guess what, they couldn’t. It was so unfair that Piers wanted to pull out his own pretty hair and scream.

He stopped counting the nights in which he woke up, hot and bothered, whining in his unfulfilled pleasure, forcing him to bring it to an end with his own hands and imagination. It's just been too often.

And its always been Chris. Piers had noticed that there were better days and days where he couldn’t even look at Chris for his own sake without his body reacting and maybe giving him away. On these days he needed distances… and some alone time in the bathroom.

Piers tried desperately to ban all these alluring thoughts out of his head but when he paid attention to the conversation again, it didn’t get any better. The other soldiers were still speaking about sex and it got raunchy. Toys, positions, ugh…

“You know, LT… you never told us about what women you like!” Piers' eyes went wide and he swallowed. What? Why did straight men have the desire to talk about their sex if they didn’t like to imagine other men having sex?! It was a riddle to Piers.

Still, like always he could get his expressionless face back fast.

“Oh, I didn’t? Maybe because it's none of your business.” That’s right, be professional like always.

“It's none of our business? Like,… we've never even seen you with a woman, let alone hear you talking about that…”, Carl slurred out before another continued. “Right! I mean you're that kind of guy women should be all over!”

“Do you guys know anything about privacy?!”, Piers protested but it was as if they didn’t even hear him. “Maybe he's just shy telling us!” “Or maybe there's just nothing to tell. Maybe LT is like one of those weird people that don’t have a sexuality…”, one wondered.

“You mean asexuals?” Piers was surprised one of them even knew the term.

“I guess…” “Oh, bullshit. Every guy feels sexual to some kind of woman! LT is behaving always so strict and follows the rules but I bet behind closed curtains he has like really dirty sex!”, Carl burped after another sip.

And that was the line he shouldn’t have crossed. Because it did hit close to home. Because that was exactly what he didn’t have!

“Shut the fuck up!”, Piers almost roared. A sound no one had ever heard from him, especially not that loud. Almost everyone in the entire room froze. Piers brought his palms loudly onto the surface of the table as he pushed himself up. Menacingly, he growled quietly, a deep contrast to his volume just now. “I dare you… I dare you to violate my privacy like this ever again… and you see how fast one can go from a soldier… to cafeteria help…”

Then he was just gone. As if he had never been here in the first place.

...............

7 pm and he had locked himself into one of the stalls on the toilets for the last half an hour now.

It couldn't get any worse than this. Just a little while ago he had been so eager to talk with Chris about the whole thing. Now he was upset and stuck on the toilet with the biggest boner he ever had. Which usually wouldn’t be a bad thing, necessarily. But usually, he also wasn’t having them when he was basically at his workplace!

He was reluctant to take care of it, it just didn’t feel right. On the other hand, he knew that this thing wouldn’t leave him that fast if he kept thinking about Chris. Stupid Chris and his broad shoulders. Stupid Chris and his perfect muscles.

Piers released a groan when he only got himself to be hornier. Oh hell. Just get it over with then!

With the biggest blush and embarrassment, Piers opened his pants and pulled them down. He couldn’t believe he was doing this… But alright. When they hit the ground, his pants gave view at his underwear. He expected to see that visible tent there. Well, he could hardly blame his body. He was young and eager and didn’t give it any release. It would get it now. His hands grabbed the rim and pulled the second layer of fabric down…

Damn. He was hard. Harder than a few nice thoughts of Chris usually got him. Maybe it was all the frustration of today that further stimulated his mood. Piers sighed. He didn’t really like doing this here but now he was way too far anyways. So his hands began to work, one supporting him against the wall, the other wrapping around the base of his cock.

Alone the first touch was so good, that Piers had to moan. Oh, it would be super bad for him to hold back, vocally. Piers liked to be loud and let out how he felt. Not being able to do that would be so unusual for him. But he was determined to bring this to a fast end now. So his hand took a tight grip, before moving upwards to his tip. It felt like it was slightly wet already. Sometimes it was even hard to believe for Piers what effect this man had on him. Piers brought his hand down again, then immediately up once more. It created a rhythm that Piers carefully pushed faster.

Alright, just because he wanted to do this fast, didn't mean it couldn't be pleasurable. So Piers stayed at this medium speed, humming slightly under his accelerating breath and closing his eyes. Like always when he did this the picture of Chris came all by itself.

Piers has had the luck before to see Chris in the showers before, actually a dozen times already. But it never stopped being good. And also, it was hard to sneak a peek in the first place, after all, he didn’t want to appear like a creep and there were countless witnesses every time. So actually he hadn’t seen quite as much as he would like. But the rest his imagination made up.

Piers wondered how firm these muscles would be under his fingers. How these fingers would travel down Chris' impressive sides. A hum escaped full lip as Piers got a little faster after all.

His finger would eventually reach Chris' hips and Piers would push his pants down. Then his underwear. With a groan, the sniper imagined how he would fondle and caress Chris' own pride. Maybe go down on it with his mouth…

“Sh-Shit…” This whole being silent thing didn’t work out… But Piers was also way too caught up in his fantasies to care.

After he was done giving Chris the orgasm of his life, Piers would swallow his cum gladly. Really, he would never complain. And maybe then, if he had been a good boy, Chris would lean him back, go down… and make him feel the same thing.

Piers' breath was more like pants now and he could feel how his sweaty body got excited on a whole new level. His abdomen began to tingle. Just a little more…

Chris would suck and blow him, close his eyes or sometimes look up with these pretty chocolate-colored irises. Piers' blood was boiling with so much unfulfilled need! Captain's tongue would play with the underside of his cock, his hands holding the base of his member and his balls. Lovingly, gently. Like he was worshipping them. Chris' head got faster, bobbing up and down on his dick, so warm, so wet.

Piers couldn’t take this anymore. He always came so fast when his dreams and fantasies of Captain became dirtier by the second. The sniper ripped open his eyes and hurried to open the lid of the toilet in front of him.

When it was, he relaxed a little again and closed his eyes once more. More and more fantasies filled his head with Chris in each and every position. He would show him what a good boy he could be.

With that thought, he could allow himself to be swept away. His worked up body came to its climax and Piers could only half-mindedly aim at the toilet before the warm wave of relief washed over his entire being.

“…C-Chris…!”, he moaned as he could barely take all of these sweet feelings without his eyes getting wet. It was so nice and in his mind, always so loving. His orgasm washed over Piers for long seconds and he enjoyed every bit of it. Sometimes he liked to imagine, still in the afterglow, how Chris would hold him after sex and kiss his lips until he calmed down.

But it was every time the same when he opened his eyes again. Chris wasn’t there. And Piers' eyes got a little wetter. Well… at least of all things, he had hit the toilet bowl perfectly. So… from all the things that went wrong today, at least this hadn’t been one of them.

“…Piers?”

Said sniper had just been in the action of cleaning his pink flaring tip with a piece of toilet paper… until he was stopping and dying inside. No, this couldn’t be. No! From all the things in the universe! From all the people on base that could have walked in on him…

It had been Chris.

Piers knew his voice and he also knew,… that he had just cum mere seconds ago, screaming Chris' name through the entire bathroom. He knew he must have heard that. This was it. He could die now, his life was over.

Piers didn’t move a muscle, he didn’t breathe even though his lungs still required a ridiculous amount of air from just now. Chris knew he was here but maybe… he would lose interest if he didn’t respond like a cat in a toy…?

“Piers! Answer me.”

Apparently no luck.

Piers closed his eyes desperately, wishing this was just a bad dream. What was he even supposed to say?! His secret crush just walked in on him jerking it to HIM, on a public toilet! It was over. He would think he was a creep.

“Captain?” So he did what Chris asked of him and spoke. This time it was Chris who was silent for a bit.

“Are you okay in there?”

Piers blinked. What? The chance was slim but… did Chris maybe not even know what he just did in here? Did he maybe, for some weird reason, think he screamed his name because of something else? Piers was not kidding himself, he knew how it had sounded…

“Erm, yeah. Sure! I’m okay! I just… I just cut myself on the toilet paper…” Piers physically wanted to slap himself. He was pretty sure it wasn’t even possible to cut yourself on toilet paper!!

“You cut yourself… on the toilet paper.” His voice took no bullshit, Chris was calling him out. “And as you did, you moaned my name, sounding more like you just bust a nut.”

Sweet lord, take him now. If there was even a better time to die than now…

Piers didn’t know what to say to that, even if he would have known all the words in the world.

“Open the door and look at me, Piers.” It sounded so serious, it was hard for Piers to breathe suddenly. This couldn’t be. He couldn’t just have ruined everything because he didn’t have his libido in check. Did he gross Chris out? Wasn’t it super disgusting and scary for a straight guy to know that a gay had a crush on him? And felt super sexual about him?

Piers grit his teeth and shook his head, quietly.

Well, if this was the outcome now, then so be it. If Chris didn’t feel the same way as him, it would have happened either way. Now he had to face it.

The younger one swallowed all the sounds down that threatened to escape his throat in a whimper and turned to the door (after he had stuffed everything back where it belonged) and reached for the handle with shaking hands.

He pushed it down, opened the door, just to look into Chris' expressionless face.

At that moment, Piers thought a BOW outbreak would be just about pleasant right now. Just something hideous that would swallow him whole and he didn’t have to care about any of this anymore.

Piers put on his bravest soldier face that was still pretty impressive for the situation and gave Chris a quick salute. This whole situation was just so ridiculous, saluting him on the toilet after what just happened sure as hell couldn’t make it any more awkward now.

Chris looked at him, still not talking. Until eventually he did, and Piers wished for the opposite again, just glaring, boring stares into his soul.

“What did you do in there?” What a weird question to ask someone who visibly just stepped out of a toilet stall in front of you. Piers frowned.

“I… was on the toilet?”

“Obviously, do you think I'm dumb? At least it didn’t sound that way.” Why was Chris so onto this? Whatever he was guessing, it was right, okay? And he apparently knew it. So for the sake of them both, couldn’t he just let it go?!

But Piers wasn’t done playing the passive card yet and only shrugged. “I'm sorry. Did you never have spicy chili? Sometimes that gets a few weird sounds out of you.”

Chris looked at him as if he was the most retarded person on the planet. It hurt. Just him looking at Piers like that hurt…

“You jerked off, and that while thinking about me?” It didn’t even sound like a question. Just like that, he had stated it so matter of factly. Piers felt like he should just leave now, he never had to show his face around here again.

Piers could feel his face blushing, hard. So Chris would never believe any excuse he might still come up with. It never took Piers so much power to control his facial expressions. “I'm sorry, sir? What you're suggesting would be very unprofessional of me!”, Piers rose his voice, as if that alone would get him anywhere.

“So you're promising it wasn’t the case?”

Now he had him at the literal balls, Piers couldn’t break promises. Never had been, he was raised differently. And especially he wouldn't be able to do such a thing to Chris.

So he stayed silent. And that was a mistake. Everything Chris needed to know. He raised an eyebrow.

The seconds ticked by and Piers had never felt such an awkward point in his life before. And Chris didn’t plan on making it any better.

“I feel like there is something you should tell me …Do you have any interest in me?”

Piers felt so ashamed he couldn’t even look him in the eyes anymore. He knew exactly what Chris meant by that. But what did it still matter now? It would be too complicated to still lie about it. After so many countless months, he had to understand that his secret was out. He was in love with Chris Redfield. Said Redfield that was in front of him.

“…Yes…” It took everything from him to say it out loud. Something that he could just recently even admit to himself. And it felt even more soul-crushing when he finally looked up and into Chris' face.

It was nothing like he had wished for at that moment. No smile, no blush. Just stern eyes and frowned brows. Did Chris not like it…? Piers knew it.

“Well… that's a strange situation then…” Chris hummed and it sounded so emotionless. Like he was just a bypassing stranger and it didn’t affect him. It broke Piers' heart. “Hmm, we might have to think about what we can do then… You know, because I don’t wanna get your hopes up or anything…”

Piers froze in his place. He didn’t wanna make him hope. There was no hope… Piers walked out on him and left.

.........................

Chris was a little bit older than Piers, there was no way around that. Which also meant he had lived through a whole lot more days, weeks, months, years. Probably had a lot more awkward and weird encounters in his life, yet this… This had given strange a whole new meaning to him.

Chris still stood here, in this cold empty bathroom even though Piers must have left minutes ago. He still stared at the spot he had stood. Had… done some other weird things too.

First of all, the obvious fact that Piers liked him… like a lover would was totally alien to him and he had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea in the first place.

Pretty kid, he had to admit that. Everyone that saw him had to admit that. Sparkling eyes. Cute shaped nose. Couple of moles juuust in the right spot, like maybe a model would have it. Thick lips.

Everything about Piers shouted pretty, just in the right amount that it still wasn’t too much on a guy. But just because he found him appealing didn’t mean that he was everything that Chris ever wanted.

.

.

.

Too shit that he was.

Chris groaned loudly and hid his face behind his hands as his hard walls, that he always put so much thought in on keeping upright, were slowly crumbling. They did it at home a lot. Whenever Piers had NOT a chance of seeing it. Or anyone else for the matter. At home, he stopped and sighed and hummed and sobbed when he thought about Piers. At work, he was like a rock. He had even managed it right now, even in the most surreal of moments, when Piers had actually looked him in the eyes and had said yes, he liked him.

And the only thing he had done… he had pushed him away! Chris could have slapped himself. It's been weeks since he had begun looking at Piers in another light, finding him kinda cute. That thought only getting stronger with each passing minute. Nights of maybe thinking there was still something more to his life, something he didn’t quite pay attention to yet. Something besides all the loss and guilt and betrayal.

It was cute little Piers, always being right there.

Chris had started to steal little glances. And he had noticed Piers doing the same thing. But never in a million years would he have gotten his hopes up, because… who wanted such an old broken thing like him still. Certainly not someone so young and fresh like the sniper. But something he must have done. Because Piers had indeed seen something in him.

And now that he had acted on it, Chris had denied it. Why?, he kept asking himself. He remembered a time when he was around Piers age, he had been eager. Female, male, he wanted a taste of it all. But he supposed that work had gotten a bigger part of his life. Sure, what he did was important. What his team did was important. But… if he wouldn’t stop putting other people in front of him now, would he ever? Was this maybe how he would achieve a little happiness, by being selfish?

Fuck being Captain and Lieutenant for once. With Piers, he had always the feeling he could just be Chris.

Shit, he needed to get a clear head.

And by getting a clear head, he meant seeking Claire's advice just minutes after, which usually never led to a clear head but just to more questions. Still, desperate times, desperate measures and so on…

“Claire!”, he came waltzing into the cafeteria as if he had finally embodied the boulder completely. She, Jill and Moira were just like he had left them. Cute little girl round but this had to end now. For the sake of something better.

“Come, now!” He grabbed his sister by the arm, still always really careful to not hurt her and gave her no other choice than to follow a bit. Jill was immediately on her feet though. “Shit Chris, what are you doing? Are you having a breakdown again?”, she asked but only got a hushed answer at best, from him.

“Hell no. If anything, I'm finally getting up and doing something about it instead of crying and complaining!”

Jill slowly sat down on her bench again, she knew him better than most and this riddle already told her everything she needed to know. Not to Moira though, who just stared after the siblings.

“Is he sure he is okay…?”

“No. But he is going to be soon…”

.

.

.

Claire felt like these hallways were becoming good friends to her slowly. Or more like a makeshift therapy room. Chris pulled her in one of them were they were alone, causing her to groan when he finally let go of her. 

“God, Chris. What is it? Barry was just about to get the alcohol out!”

“It's about Piers!” And with that, he had her full and unshared attention. “Really? Please tell me what I want to hear!” Chris frowned. What exactly did Claire want to hear…? That’s when he realized. She knew. She had known and never told him. But that would have probably been unfair to Piers, in a sense Chris could understand. So he just shook his head and dropped that thought.

“Well, not sure if that is what you're expecting but… Piers kinda…” Now suddenly it felt a lot weirder to talk about it. “Well… Piers, he… “

“He told you he has a massive crush on you?!” Now he was kinda grateful she had said it first. “…Yeah…”

He hadn’t seen his sister so excited in a long time. She squealed and threw herself into his arms, hugging the hell out of him. Chris took a second and asked himself how long it has been since she was so happy and showed it gladly. It felt like all they did these days when she visited him was staring quietly at the ground, he trapped in his own mind and she trapped in the silence of his house.

“I'm so happy for you!!”

Her reaction surprised him so much because it was so full of life as if Claire saw a light on the end of a long dark tunnel. She felt ecstatic for him and Chris once again realized that he didn’t have to hide in the shadows as he did. He could reach out to Piers, now more than ever.

“But I… but I rejected him just now…”

She stopped. And slowly let go of him. There was a sad twinkle in her eyes but when she looked up, she only smiled. “Oh, I see… You know… you shouldn’t feel too bad about it. I'm sure Piers gets over it and accepts how you feel. You need to feel comfortable, that's the most important thing.”, she whispered bravely. And Chris had to smile. He was gifted with the most accepting sister, whenever he decided to date a certain boy or not. But he was not gonna torture her anymore.

“Claire, you don’t understand!”, he held her at her shoulders again. “I… Well, for a little while now, I… feel the same thing for Piers!”

And then she was back in his arms again, just like that. “Stupid bear, why did you tell him off then?!”

Yeah, he was stupid huh?

“I, I don’t know! It was just all so… sudden!” And he didn’t even wanna start about the toilet paper thing… “I couldn’t think and said no!” He had done a lot of mistakes in his time and believe it or not, this might be one of the worst.

“Claire, I… I need to find Piers! And I need emotional support!” No way he was gonna screw this up once again. Claire squeezed his big shoulders once again before letting go and meeting his eyes. “Alright, big bear! You want emotional support, I'm gonna give it to you! But facing Piers, you gotta do this alone. I can't ruin your romantic moment!”, she snickered. “Right before you came in, Piers was actually in the cafeteria. But he grabbed a bottle of some stuff and left again.”

Piers usually didn’t drink. Maybe a bit of light stuff on special parties. But getting an entire bottle… He really seemed to have hurt Piers, huh? Chris just hoped he could redeem that.

While Chris thought about all that, this time Claire grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look at her. “Listen to me now, Chris. This is important. Do you love Piers?”

Chris' eyes went wide. There was no way to put it any blunter. But the core message was true even if it was weird to hear out loud. Just a few months ago, this thought would have been impossible for him.

“Yes…” “Louder!” “Hell yes!”

“That’s right! And you wanna hold him and cuddle him and all of that other romantic stuff they do in these boring movies?” Chris raised a brow. “I guess.”

“And do you wanna grabbed him, push him in the sheets and-“ “Claire!” She only giggled.

“See? I'm right! And you know just like me that there is only one way to get that. You find Piers and you tell him the truth! And then you kiss him on the mouth!” Chris still looked weirdly at her. Maybe because it was the first time he heard his sister talk like that. Then again, he had never required her advice on romance matters. And probably never would again. But hey, that was apparently the pep talk he had asked for. Good enough…

“Alright, alright, I get it!”, he grumbled a bit and managed to get free out of her grip that was almost just as tight as his own. “I'm gonna do that!” He didn’t even say much more than that, just turned around and stormed off, leaving Clare behind with a broad smirk. Perfect pep talk!


	3. 10:00pm until Midnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, another finished project. I'm rather proud I'm a little productive lately but also know it's probably not gonna be for long, like always. Should probably enjoy this as long as it's lasting.
> 
> And yes, I know this concept of New Years and 'banging' has been used plenty of times before ^^;

.

.

.

Nothing helped!

It was now after 10 and Chris had looked for Piers for hours, wherever he could think off. He had no luck. So Chris had to get used to the idea that Piers just left and went home. If he did, Chris could understand. Somewhere in between, he had thought about just leaving as well and actually going to his place. And no matter how bad he wanted to do that, he also didn't wanna leave his sister and everyone else when the countdown came around. Guess it just had to wait until tomorrow. Which was quite the bummer.

So now he sat there, next to his sister on that table that got more and more crowded the later it became. Because the more drunk people became and the louder the music got, the more everyone felt the need to talk trash and laugh way too loudly.

Sheva, Rebecca, Barry and his wife, and a bunch of soldiers from all possible branches had gathered around them. Even Leon had arrived just minutes ago, which Chris didn’t expect. Maybe his own New Year's party was just shit because he also had Sherry with him that wasn’t planned also. But the more people they had here, the funnier it got and as time went by, Chris felt how he lightened up even with his almost non-existent consume of liquor and he quite enjoyed the cozy round.

In the span of the next hour, people got loose and they started to dance in the middle of the room, alone, together, total strangers. Leon got flirty with one of the new female rookies named Ellie. Chris kinda hoped she didn’t get too attached to the blonde because God knew she was a precious young woman.

Looking at them like that though… Chris began to feel depressed again. There had been his chance and he ruined it like so many things in life before. Fuck… He sighed and slowly hid his face in his hands again after taking a bigger swig of his beer than he wanted. Chris tried the breathing technique he had learned years ago to calm himself down but… he could still feel his hands start to shake. Oh no…

“Hey, bear! Care for a dance?” Warm hands that touched his shoulders from behind, got him to almost jump. Piers? But all his hopes got crushed when Jill smiled at him. “Oh…” “Way to make me feel bad…”, she still giggled brightly. Jilly always knew how he felt, sometimes it seemed she didn't even have to see him. She just had the perfect timing and always watched his back. Chris' lip slowly twisted upwards.

“Alright, but just because it's you!”

His old friend laughed and it was enough to get his mood up at least a little bit again as he began swirling her all over the dancefloor.

..................................

The clock had hit 11 a few minutes ago when the door opened and everyone turned to it because there was no one left anymore that was missing.

But Piers Nivans was standing right there, grunting in anger, an empty bottle of whiskey dangling from his hand. His face was red and his eyes clearly out of focus. Chris couldn’t remember ever seeing Piers drunk before. But if he had before, it would have looked just like this.

Carefully, the Captain put Jill down that came out of a spiral in his arms and they turned to Piers like everyone else.

“Piers!” Chris felt quite happy. If Piers was still here, then maybe there was still a chance to talk with him. And to be quite honest… there wasn’t a single part inside his body that would feel awkward to do that even right now, in front of everyone. He was about to storm over to said boy but found that he didn’t need to as the sniper slurped over all by himself. First, Chris was so happy but then he could see that his face was just as angry. Oh dear…

And really, as he reached him and Jill, the trouble began. First, he let go of the glass bottle without a warning, that smashed loudly on the ground, causing some people to jump. Chris didn’t even flinch.

“What are you doing?!” Piers was shouting. Why was he shouting?!

“What do you mean?”, Chris almost growled back. This wasn't what he had liked to imagine.

Piers began wildly gesturing now, throwing his hands all around in what seemed to be pointing at Jill. “This! Here I go, telling you all about how I feel! Maybe I can understand that you don’t have the hots for me, fine! But there I am, all alone at the roof for hours, you don’t even look for me and when I come back, you're like all in Jill's throat again. Don't have to worry, my ass!”, he spat the last thing in Jill's direction.

And Chris frowned. Piers had been on the roof? That explained why he couldn’t find him but had he expected him to look there?! And now he felt salty because he hadn’t thought that far? Apparently, Piers was an irrational drunk, good to know!

And no matter how much Chris wanted to excuse this, sometimes you also needed to get called out on your bullshit. So Chris grabbed Piers' collar and pushed him a little away from his position, glaring at Jill who in return, was as unimpressed as could be from his little act.

Piers though flailed and grunted all over the place. “What is it? You wanna punch me, go ahead. I dare you!”

“Two things, Piers…”, he started as calmly as possible for the situation. “First, don’t fucking pull Jill into this. This has nothing to do with her at all. Whatever you thought you were seeing, wasn’t true…”

Piers only groaned again in irritation.

“Second… If you really think that I'm not interested in you then I just need to show you…”

From there on out, a lot of things were a blur. Even Chris himself hadn’t thought he would do it, right up until the last moment. But the little alcohol he actually drank, pushed the concern aside and let him focus on just pressing his lips to these soft full ones.

In the first second, it was hard to describe what he all felt. Like mentioned, Piers was soft, Piers was warm and handsome and Chris wasn’t gonna lie, he lost himself a little in it. He craved to taste him because this kiss felt so good. To tell the truth, Chris had kissed in his life before, of course, just not an awful lot. So he could safely say that Piers had been the best one yet. So he pushed himself closer.

People around them started to cheer suddenly and Chris didn’t want to describe it as one of these cheesy moments in a movie but… it was seriously great. Deep down, Chris hoped Piers felt the same way.

The sniper pushed him off.

Both of them stared at each other, Piers' eyes full with shock, Chris’ filled with hurt. So… that’s how the rejection had felt for Piers. Shitty. Everyone around them fell silent and the moment felt heavy. Suffocating.

Chris hoped on just anything, just a word from Piers. Just… anything! But it was futile. His protégé turned and walked off as he had done so before. No one said a word as he made his way all the way out and the door closed behind him with a heavy sound.

Another second passed. And the hurt became almost unbearable for Chris. No… He couldn’t just let him walk away. Not like before!

Jill was about to step next to him, probably to cheer him up but he didn’t have time for such nonsense. As fast as he could, he followed Piers out.

Not a heartbeat later, he was out on the corridor. His head whipped to both directions. Luck seemed to be on his side this time as he caught a glance of Piers' pants as he vanished behind a corner and Chris bolted after it. His pulse was speeding up even faster than it was while that kiss. Chris felt like a hunter stalking a deer. He knew he just had this one chance and he couldn’t blow it once more. Also, he couldn't let Piers run off this time.

He was never gonna forgive himself if that would happen.

Behind the next corner, Chris found Piers heading to the main door with fast steps. Before he could reach him, Piers was already outside. Not thinking about giving up, Chris pushed his body to run until the next thing he knew, he was in the middle of the parking lot, Piers just two steps away from him and he grabbed his shoulder with a grip that Piers had no hope of escaping from it.

They stood like that, silent. Piers kept his back facing towards him and Chris took the moments to catch his breath, maybe also get his brain to work again.

“W-Wait…”, he ended up with eventually, from which he knew that it wasn’t the most intelligent thing to say and it would never be enough on its own but it gifted him with some important seconds. Piers stopped and listened. Didn’t even grace him with a look but he listened.

“I… I can't imagine how cold it must have been up there on the roof….” It was the last day of the year, almost midnight and just now did Chris notice, that Piers didn’t have any kind of jacket on himself, he was just in his shirt. Like on cue, the sniper started shaking. And Chris didn’t even think about it twice as he shrugged out of his thin jacket and he threw it over his shoulders. It wasn't the world but it was better than nothing at all.

“It was…” Piers eventually mumbled, pulling the jacket softly tighter around his body. He also might have inhaled Chris' scent deeply but he wouldn’t tell. “I… waited for you. I thought you would maybe come find me and if not, well… then I would at least know that you're really not interested…” Chris had to strain his ears to hear any of it, so softly did he speak. So when Piers finally turned around and shouted the next thing in his face, Chris jumped a little.

“So you're not interested! But still, you go ahead and… do what you just did! Can you please eventually just stop playing with me?! It's not as funny for me as it is for you!”

His cute lips were flapping so fast with his words. Chris was dying to taste them again. But if he would pounce him again, that wouldn’t make anything better. Chris, keep calm, first, you do the talking. Then the other more awesome stuff.

“Piers, stop. I… I know what I said earlier, okay? But just listen to me this once. Then you can still hate on me if you feel like that.”

The sniper was staring at him with hard eyes so Chris looked away. Rarely did he open up to people lately, one of the few had been Jill. “This all… isn’t supposed to be a cheap excuse for how I treated people in my life recently. But… Africa was hard, okay? I thought my best friend had been dead, 3 years. I also thought Wesker was dead. Then suddenly Jill is back and I was so happy, yes, but seeing that bastard again, remembering everything he did, every person in S.T.A.R.S. that is no more because of him. Knowing he had her for three years. Taking that time from her life, and I didn’t do anything at all. Maybe it still wasn’t my fault. But people around me tend to get hurt I… eventually it gets hard to live with that.”

He took a step closer to Piers and he was happy to see that he didn’t budge.

“Sometimes I feel like I should push them away, just to keep them safe, I know it's not the right thing to do… but it’s the easy thing to do. Piers.. earlier when you… said what you said… I couldn’t. I know I shouldn't have reacted like that and I could kick my own ass now but I didn’t think. I just reacted. And hurt you with it. But all of this, being alone, struggling against every visit and invitation, I don’t want that anymore. I wanna allow myself to feel what I feel…”, he whispered and gently laid his hands on Piers' shoulders, bringing their bodies once again a great bit together.

“I wanna allow myself to feel what I feel for you…” It felt like his soft words were swallowed by the night sky. As if Piers didn’t hear them, he just continued to stare at him. And Chris felt so desperate. He just confessed. They both felt the same for one another, right? Chris was praying to the gods that Piers gave him a chance to prove himself.

Slowly, Chris inched closer, their faces inches apart. The tension was killing him.

“Can I… kiss you…?”, the captain asked eventually, his throat so dry that his voice almost broke completely. But he would do it accordingly now.

And he didn’t even have to do anything else than that as Piers took it upon himself to lunge forward, his arm around Chris' neck in a second, to bring their lips together once again.

The moment felt rich and sweet. The fact that Piers was kissing back made it even better than the first time. And he was eager. Chris closed his eyes completely in bliss and his arms found their way around that perfect slender waist to hold him tight. As the pair's kisses grew more passionate.

Chris could feel all the emotions that Piers had kept hidden for so long, poring out. It made it hard to stay focused with such an impatient partner that just started to feel his shoulders and chest all up. Chris was honestly looking forward to this relationship and how it would keep him on his toes.

Piers pushed his tongue into his mouth which caused Chris to grunt slightly. Oh dear lord… Chris was just seconds away from groping Piers' ass just like the sniper was touching him all over but he stayed nice and polite. At least one of them had to still think clearly, realizing they were in the middle of the parking lot, while Piers began to slightly rub their chests together already. Seemed like his non-existent sex life was about to wake up sooner or later.

“Piers…” Chris eventually whispered when it all got too much and his new lover took the chance to kiss the corner of his mouth instead. “You're… You know what you want, huh?”, he added in a dry chuckle.

“Of course! Only you…”

Chris could understand that he was young and impatient and he had probably waited long for that moment but he still gently pushed him away. “I know… and I'm so flattered! But how about we keep it friendly for now?”

He had known Piers wouldn’t like that and he gave him the biggest pout which looked too adorable. “Believe me, I.. I want you too! But we're still at work and… everyone is in there. Maybe you could wait until tomorrow…”

Piers still pouted at him but it turned more into a laugh when Chris reached for his jacket still on Piers and pulled it over his face. “Don’t give me that face!”

............................................

Half an hour until midnight and both soldiers were on their way back to all of their friends. Chris had an arm draped around Piers while said one still giggled here and there, feeling happier than he ever remembered. He wouldn’t even care to let everyone know he was dating Chris now. More the contrary, so everyone could know he belonged to him now.

When they reached the door, they stepped in, more confidently than ever before. People were dancing and drinking all around again, the music getting louder the closer it got to midnight. But a few people noticed them neither less. Which were, of course, Claire and Jill first.

The redhead came almost sprinting over. The fact that they both were holding hands now excited her more than this entire party ever could. She gasped before she could even hope to bring words out. “You… silly idiots!”, she shouted. “That took long enough! Hell yeah!”

Jill joined into her cheering when she was there too. “Finally…” Chris only smiled knowingly at Piers from the corner of his eyes, which caused him to chuckle. Some other people came over as well until the entire room knew of them.

Chris didn’t feel any shame in this. Piers, on the other hand, got a little awkward as some of the soldiers looked at them together. He knew he didn’t have to fear anything dating the Captain with even Barry's permission. And he knew they probably also didn’t mind but… he had spent such a long time worrying about all of this that it was hard to just lay it off... Well, until Chris asked him for a dance.

Then it was all relatively easy!

Chris wasn’t the best dancer, but neither was Piers. So they both made it up as they went and that worked out better than expected. No one laughed at them or even looked at them after some time. Chris swirled him around and sometimes even let Piers lead him. After they got slowly tired, they sat back at one of the tables to some of their friends. Piers seriously had enough to drink so he waved them off, while Chris just took a little sip.

Time continued to pass by and eventually, someone turned up the volume of the huge flatscreen TV someone had brought along. Chris couldn’t even remember since when it exactly stood here…

The host in one of those New Year's shows got slowly ready as the last minute of the old year ticked down merciless. Chris intertwined his hand with Piers below the table. It felt warm and protective. Chris had missed feeling like this and deep down he was forever grateful that he was able to start 2010 like that.

“10!”

“9!”

“8!”

“7!”

“6!”

“5!”

“4!”

“3!”

“2!”

“1!”

The room exploded in a roar of cheerings. Everyone, still standing or sitting, loudly celebrated before randomly congratulating everyone around them.

“Happy New Year!”, Claire shouted into Chris' ear through all of the other voices. He only nodded back, not even attempting to shout as well. The Captain wrapped her into a warm hug, warmer than any had been these past years. Then he turned to his new boyfriend and just smiled at him. The sniper returned the warm gesture before leaning close and softly whispering into his ear. “Happy New Year… babe.”

Piers' hand under the table laid on his thigh and Chris stopped breathing. Slowly it wandered upwards and before long, Piers was bold enough to squeeze his member through his pants.

“I don’t know if you noticed… But now is tomorrow. Let's go to your office… to see all of the 'banging'…”

Chris' knees felt never so weak before.

### 


End file.
